Rear of camera controls

On the back of the G2 you'll find the flip-out LCD with a variety of buttons surrounding it. Each of the buttons is described in more detail below:

Record Mode

Flash Mode

Toggles through the flash modes: Auto Flash, Redeye reduction Auto, Redeye Reduction Fill-In, Fill-In, Forced Off. (The availability of different flash modes varies with the selected exposure mode). Flash mode is displayed on the top LCD and rear LCD (if enabled).
Spot Metering

Enables / Disables spot metering. Only available in P, Tv, Av and M exposure modes. When spot metering is enabled the camera meters only from a small rectangle in the center of the frame, this is indicated as a set of brackets [ ] within the normal AF rectangle. Spot metering status is displayed on the top LCD and rear LCD (if enabled).
Macro Focus

Switches the cameras autofocus system between normal focus range (70 cm +) and macro focus range (6/20 cm - 60 cm). Available in all exposure modes except Pan-Focus and Landscape.

Auto Exposure Lock (AE-Lock / FE-Lock)

Takes an exposure reading and locks it for the next shot. Only available in P, Tv and Av exposure modes. Something very unique to the G1, if you have the flash enabled the camera will fire the flash and take a meter reading against the flash output (known as FE Lock), lock it and use it for the next shot. Note that you can now select equivalent exposures (exposure shift) in P, Av and Tv after AE-Lock by pressing the left and right arrows on the 4-way controller.

Multifunction Button

This button scrolls between four different camera settings:

Exposure compensation: +/-2 EV in 0.3 EV steps
White balance: Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Fluorescent High, Flash, Manual Preset
Bracketing: 3 frames: 0/+/- 0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, 1.7 or 2.0 EV
Flash output compensation: +/-2 EV in 0.3 EV steps
DISPLAY Display Mode

Toggles between three LCD display modes: Image only display, Image and brief frame information, Image and detailed exposure information with histogram.
SET / AF Frame selection

In record mode pressing this button displays three AF area frames on the screen [ ] [ ] [ ], use the left and right direction buttons to select the frame to use for auto focus. In menus / settings displays this button also doubles as setting confirmation.
MENU Enter / Leave the Record Menu

Pressing this button in record or play mode enters that mode's settings menu (described in detail on the next pages of this review).

There is a "delete before saved", if you're looking at an image review, press SET then * to call up the delete yes/no dialog.

Play Mode

Toggle Thumbnail view

Toggles between display of full screen image or 3 x 3 thumbnails on the LCD screen.
JUMP Jump

Enters a special mode which allows you to jump through playback images by 10 frames forward or backward.
DISPLAY Display Mode

Toggles between three LCD display modes: Image only display, Image and brief frame information, Image and detailed exposure information.
SET Setting / Menu confirm

Used to confirm changed camera settings or options in the camera menus.
MENU Enter / Leave the Play Menu

Pressing this button in record or play mode enters that mode's settings menu (described in detail on the next pages of this review).

Left Side Control

On the left side of the camera is the manual focus button. Simply press and use the up and down arrow keys to focus. Canon have listened, the G2 now features an automatically scaling ruler readout of distance (in metres and feet) as well as a center-of-frame magnified 'loupe' which helps ensure focusing while leaving the rest of the frame visible. There are also now over 60 manual focus positions.

Another well implemented improvement.